Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Oct-Dec 1928)

60 BETTER THEATRES SECTION OF December 22, 1928 Ready to greet the patrons in the foyer on opening night. The Plaza, Show Shop of a Spanish Market Place in America Here is beauty from the Post — and a $25,000 parking station of the Present By DOROTHY BOLLER ,NE of the most attractive parts of Kansas City is the beautiful Country Club district, located in the southwest portion of the city. The Country Club Plaza, a shopping center for the district located at 47th and Millcreek Parkway, was initiated less than six years ago with a few well-planned Spanish shops. So spectacular has been its growth that the business district now comprises approximately six blocks of high class stores, with an established clientele from the best homes of the city. The owners of the district have sought to give the plaza the air of a Spanish market place, and the opening of the new Plaza theatre in the center of this business district, has added the central feature to an already interesting spot. That the theatre might resemble the typical Spanish buildings, the designers chose for the wall material a brick of neutral tone, buff with a grayish cast. The building takes on the colorful character of its old world counterparts through the use of bright colors on the windows and doorways, which are unsymmctriral in placement and of random sizes. Gay imported tiles above entrance ways, and the generous employment of ornamental wrought iron, further enhance the appearance of the exterior. The theatre tower is of churchly inspiration, and carries one back to the cathedrals of Spain, built when the Mystery and Morality plays were presented on the stage by religious teachers. Rising from one side of the entrance, it towers 100 feet into the air. The stage loft, because of the great height demanded for the handling of stage scenery, is always the most difficult part of a theatre to treat interestingly. In the Plaza theatre and shops building, an effort has been made to minimize height by completely encircling the theatre portion by a group of two-story shops, the roofs of which have been so related as to screen any unsightly view of the loft, bringing its tall dimensions into a pleasing sense of scale. The roof lines of the loft itself have been treated with cut stone finials, true to Spanish detail, and the necessarily unbroken surfaces arc hung with wrought iron doors and balconies imported from Spain's cities. Hand-fashioned pan tiles, in buff and gray, give the roof an appearance of weathered age, and make a pleasing tran sition from the soft-hued walls to the sky. The absence of overhead poles and wires, together with the exclusion of overhead signs and clashing advertising placards, add to the sightliness of the building. Entering the lobby, one is plunged immediately into the intimacies of the patio, the center of Spanish home life. The ever present fountain and four encircling benches of glazed tile in the center of the court, were made in Seville, from pictorial designs taken from the paintings of old Spanish masters. The tile floor and the open sky effect overhead add to the outdoor illusion. A balcony over the entrance to the foyer was occupied on the opening night by a group of charming scnoritas, who tossed rosebuds to the incoming patrons, while the stairway leading to the balcony was filled with Spanish troubadours, filling the air with guitar music. Grilles dating back to the 17th century, from Ronda, carvings from Cadiz, plaques from Granada, lanterns of Greco design, and cartouches of heraldic design on plain wall surfaces, give touches of the true Cas-tillian influence. The art objects and ornamentation of more recent origin have been antiqued to blend into the general